paul the athlete - Paul draws from local culture-the Athenian and Isthmian games, the latter not more eight miles from Corinth and held less than a year prior to Paul’s writing-to help Christians think about their life. If you grew weary of the NFL playoffs and yawn at the upcoming B-Ball playoffs, notice how Paul uses sports as a teaching tool. Greco-Roman games were highly valued (though this was before free-agency and no salary caps). As in the games, so in the Christian life there are common parallels-discipline and self-control, and self-mastery "in everything." [1]

pastoral care of the pastor - Paul sounds a cautionary note about his service of the gospel: "I harden my body with blows . . . to keep myself from being disqualified . . . " (v. 27, tev, rvd). Disqualified? Paul? Athletes can get themselves disqualified-even in the NFL. Like Paul, pastor-types who are so busy serving and rescuing often end up slipping in their own spiritual formation and thus place themselves at risk. Paul is saying, I think, that giving self without proper self-care is in the end, self-destructive. [2]

john chrysostom [fl 386-407] - If Paul-a man of such caliber and stature-wrote, "I punish my body . . . lest while preaching to others I myself become disqualified," what then would we say, deprived as we are of these virtues and with nothing to show in addition to this beyond deep indifference? [3]

[4] Paul draws on pop sports culture of his day to describe an aspect of the Christian life. What images / metaphors from pop culture can you think of to describe the Christian life?

In what area is your spiritual health at risk? What areas could use a personal trainer and some gym time?

How has God strengthened you in the past nine months?

 

block #1 - Any sports stories in your file? That might be the first place to look. Draw from pop sports culture-movies, essays, stories, mags, e-zines, etc. Tiger Woods and other greats will provide excellent fodder when we think about this passage. Call up the local coaches for an over the phone interview. Anything to get listeners think about the kind of preparation athletic events require.

block #2 - Walk through the text and recover some of the original context-Paul’s pop sports culture-to help listeners make connections.

block #3 - Draw parallels between two worlds-the athlete and the Christian. Both require focus (v. 24), both require prep time (v. 25) and a vision of how their efforts will take them (v. 26), both require careful use of energy-no spending a dollar on a nickel item (v. 26), and self-discipline.

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[1]New Interpreter’s Bible X (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002), page 909.
[2] Ibid, page 911.
[3] Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture VII  (InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 91.
[4] Serendipity Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1998), page 354.